SPENCER AND STOUT.
(Itangilikci Advocate) Amongst the minors current in Wellington is one to tho eiFect that Sir Robert Stout has a_ scheme on foot to try to induce the distinguished philosopher, Mr Herbert Spencer, to visit New Zealand. It is alleged that the Premier is in correspondence with Mr Spencer, and is in high hope of yet heing ablo to show the great literary " lion " over the colony, lie enacting the role of showman. It would he a graiid thing for. Sir Robert if he were able to pose as the entertainerand bosom friend of the' greatest philosopher of the age. .This is just in keeping with .Sir Robert's usual style of obtaining cheap glovy, He pretends to despise honors, yet ho is as hungry for lliom as a shark is for a lump of carrion. He used to rail against knighthood as wholly unsuitable to a democratic community, yet when knighthood was offered to .him he accepted it, not only with alacrity but with all the '"uinility" and unetuousness of Uriah Hcep. In fact Sir Robert, though pretending to be a Radical of tho Radicals, would iling aside the demos to-morrow if ho found that such a course would bo profitable to him. Though he would not seek the bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth, he never tires of seeking it at the expenso of others! It seems a pitiable tiling thaj; ." the Britain of the South " should have as its Prime Minister such a hollow political sham, It is beyond all doubt that a colony is judged by people at a distance by the standard of its political men. What must people, in the United Kingdom and in Australia think of a colony which has for its Prime Minister such an arrant political hiinibng as Sir , Robert Stout ? it is well-known that be 13 at heart a, Freetrader ; yet because he
. thinks jniay,^ielp : to 'save ; his Ministry, he conies out as' an' 'advocate of. that pernicious doctrine... Like the historic Yankee, he exclaims J ... ' V It ain't by principles or men - .- My prudont courso is steadied : ■ • I seentthe thing that pays tho best, . . And go in for it bald-headed."
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HBH18870104.2.15.7
Bibliographic details
Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7632, 4 January 1887, Page 3
Word Count
362SPENCER AND STOUT. Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7632, 4 January 1887, Page 3
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